Melbourne · Mid-Market M&A · Cross-Border

Considered advice for significant transactions.

Collins Mercer is an independent corporate advisory firm guiding business owners, corporate buyers and international investors through mid-market transactions with discretion and precision.

Our Services Confidential Enquiry

Mergers & Acquisitions

Corporate Advisory

Business Brokerage

Cross-Border Transactions

The Firm

Independent. Discreet. Accountable.

Collins Mercer advises on the sale, acquisition and strategic repositioning of privately held and mid-market businesses across Australia. Our principals lead every engagement personally, from first conversation to completion.

We act for founders realising decades of work, corporates pursuing disciplined growth, and international capital seeking entry into Australian assets. In each case the mandate is the same: protect confidentiality, preserve value, and deliver an outcome our clients would repeat.

Every engagement, principal-led.

Transactions Advised

Aggregate Deal Value

Countries of Counterparty

Years' Commercial Experience

What We Do

Four disciplines. One standard.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Sell-side and buy-side advisory for mid-market transactions. Valuation, positioning, competitive process management and negotiation through to completion.

Explore M&A

Strategic Corporate Advisory

Board-level counsel on growth, succession, capital structure and exit readiness, delivered well before a transaction is on the table.

Explore Advisory

Business Brokerage

Confidential sale campaigns for established private businesses, with qualified buyers, protected information flow and disciplined process.

Explore Brokerage

Cross-Border Transactions

Structuring international capital into Australian assets across technology, medical, industrial and mining sectors, with counterparties introduced under NDA.

Explore Cross-Border

Track Record

Selected transactions.

View All Transactions

Cross-Border · Manufacturing

Acquisition of an Australian precision manufacturer

Advised a Southeast Asian industrial group on its entry into the Australian market via acquisition.

Sell-side AdvisorCompleted 2025

M&A · Medical

Sale of a specialist medical devices distributor

Managed a confidential competitive process on behalf of founding shareholders.

Sell-side AdvisorCompleted 2024

Cross-Border · Mining Services

Confidential transaction in progress

Details available to qualified parties under NDA.

Buy-side AdvisorIn Progress

Cross-Border Entry

A bridge between international capital and Australian assets.

From first introduction to completion, we guide offshore acquirers through regulatory, cultural and commercial terrain that rewards local judgement.

Cross-Border Capability

Insights

Knowledge centre.

M&A Outlook

What mid-market vendors should expect in 2026

Pricing discipline is back. Here is how prepared vendors are still achieving premium outcomes.

February 2026 · 6 min read

Cross-Border

Foreign investment into Australia: a practical primer

FIRB thresholds, sector sensitivities, and where offshore acquirers most often lose time.

January 2026 · 8 min read

Exit Readiness

The two years before the sale decide the sale

Why the strongest exits are engineered long before the first buyer conversation.

December 2025 · 5 min read

Begin a Conversation

Every engagement starts with a confidential discussion.

No obligation, no disclosure of your identity to any counterparty, no pressure to proceed.

Make a Confidential Enquiry

Home / Buy & Sell a Business

Buy & sell a business, properly.

Sell-side, buy-side and brokerage mandates for mid-market transactions, run with the discipline of institutional M&A and the discretion private business demands.

Sell-Side

Realising the value of decades of work.

For most founders, a sale happens once. We manage valuation and positioning, prepare the business for diligence, run a controlled competitive process among qualified buyers, and negotiate to completion — while the business keeps trading undisturbed.

Confidentiality is procedural, not aspirational: staged disclosure, NDAs before identity, and information rooms opened only to parties who have earned access.

How a Mandate Runs

A disciplined process, end to end.

Appraisal

Valuation, exit readiness and an honest view on timing — including when not to sell.

ii.

Preparation

Information memorandum, data room and positioning built before any buyer is approached.

iii.

Process

Qualified buyers approached under NDA; competitive tension managed deliberately.

iv.

Completion

Negotiation, diligence management and coordination with legal and tax advisors to close.

Buy-Side & Brokerage

Acquisitions with conviction.

For corporate and private acquirers we originate off-market opportunities, appraise targets against strategy rather than availability, and negotiate from prepared positions.

Our brokerage practice serves established private businesses whose owners want an orderly, confidential sale — with the same process discipline applied at every deal size.

Discuss a Mandate

Home / Strategic Advisory & Cross-Border

Strategic advisory & cross-border entry.

Board-level counsel for Australian operators, and a considered path into Australian assets for international capital.

Strategic Advisory

Counsel before the transaction.

The best outcomes are prepared years in advance. We advise boards and owners on succession, capital structure, growth by acquisition and exit readiness — so that when the moment arrives, the business is ready and the options are real.

Engagements are retained or project-based, always principal-led, and always independent: we sell advice, not products.

Sector Focus

Where we bring cross-border depth.

Technology & AI

Software, data and AI-enabled businesses with defensible revenue.

Medical & Healthcare

Devices, distribution and clinical services with regulatory maturity.

Industrial & Mining

Manufacturing, services and resource-adjacent assets of strategic scale.

Cross-Border Entry

International capital, Australian assets.

For offshore acquirers, Australia rewards preparation: foreign investment approvals, sector sensitivities and negotiation culture all carry local nuance. We act as the counterparty's guide on the ground — origination, appraisal, FIRB-aware structuring and completion.

For Australian vendors, international buyers frequently pay for strategic value that domestic processes never surface. We know where to find them.

Start a Conversation

Home / Transactions

A track record measured in completed outcomes.

A selection of advised transactions. Confidential mandates are shown only in outline; details are available to qualified parties under NDA.

Cross-Border · Manufacturing

Acquisition of an Australian precision manufacturer

Advised a Southeast Asian industrial group on market entry via acquisition, from origination through FIRB and completion.

Sell-side AdvisorCompleted 2025

M&A · Medical

Sale of a specialist medical devices distributor

Confidential competitive process for founding shareholders; completed above initial appraisal range.

Sell-side AdvisorCompleted 2024

Advisory · Technology

Strategic review for an AI-enabled software group

Exit-readiness and capital structure advisory ahead of an anticipated 2026 process.

Strategic Advisor2025

Brokerage · Industrial Services

Sale of a family-held industrial services business

Orderly succession-driven sale to a trade acquirer, with vendor transition terms preserved.

BrokerCompleted 2024

Cross-Border · Mining Services

Buy-side appraisal for an international investor

Target origination and appraisal across Australian mining services assets.

Buy-side Advisor2025

Confidential

Transaction in progress

A cross-border mandate currently in exclusivity. Details available under NDA.

AdvisorIn Progress

Transactions shown are illustrative placeholders for this design concept. On the final site, each card is a CMS entry your team can add in minutes — sector, role, year and description — no developer required.

Home / About

Judgement, earned commercially.

Collins Mercer was founded on a simple observation: mid-market vendors deserve the same calibre of advice as institutional boards.

Founder

A principal who has sat on your side of the table.

Founder & Managing Director

Before founding the firm, our principal spent over two decades in senior commercial roles — operating businesses, acquiring them, and integrating them. That experience shapes how every mandate is run: with respect for what the business took to build, and a clear-eyed view of what a buyer will actually pay for.

Every engagement is led personally by the founder. Clients deal with the person whose name is on the door — never handed down to a junior team once the mandate is signed.

"The best advisors have signed both sides of a sale agreement."

Discretion

Confidentiality is engineered into process design, not promised in passing. Identity is disclosed late, and only under NDA.

Independence

No lending book, no funds under management, no product to place. Advice is the only thing we sell.

Alignment

Success-weighted fees on transactions. We are paid when you achieve the outcome, not for activity.

Home / Contact

Begin with a confidential conversation.

Whether you are twelve months from a decision or ready to act, the first discussion costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Melbourne.

Office

Level 12, 101 Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

Enquiries

enquiries@collinsmercer.com.au
+61 3 9000 0000

Confidentiality

Enquiries are received only by the firm's principals. Your identity is never disclosed to any counterparty without written consent.

Confidential enquiry

Held in strict confidence. Principals only.